Draco was agitated.
It was Monday evening and Hermione had not yet arrived. He'd sent Astoria to the ministry to surreptitiously pass her a small package containing a portkey to his flat, but when she'd gone to do so, Hermione hadn't been in her office. The secretary had assured Astoria that she would deliver the package as soon as Hermione was back from her meeting.
Worry pooled in his stomach. Had she received it at all? Perhaps she hadn't come back to the office. It wouldn't be wise for her to owl him if she couldn't make it there, but he hadn't predicted that she simply wouldn't show up.
"You are going to wear a hole in that floor, mate," Blaise said as he emerged from the spare bedroom and caught sight of Draco pacing. "Granger is a big girl, I'm sure she's fine."
"Are you? With my maniac Father traipsing about England unencumbered?"
"He can only visit the Manor, Draco, he told me so himself. Don't go making this all more fucking terrifying than it already is."
"Well what would you suggest I do, then? Play fucking gobstones with you on the balcony and soak in the warm summer air?"
Blaise looked over to the balcony and raised his eyebrows.
"Don't say it sounds like a great idea, you prick. Any response from Potter?"
"I told you, Draco, he's off on another mission out of the country, he'll be gone all week."
Draco grumbled an incoherent reply and went back to pacing the room. Something did not feel right about this; it simply was not in character for Hermione to neglect to communicate.
The evening progressed slowly, with Blaise making varied attempts to calm Draco to no avail.
Eventually, Blaise had retired to bed with Gabrielle, leaving Draco to pace and stew alone in his living room.
"Bloody hell, mate, have you been awake all night?!" Blaise exclaimed as he re-emerged from the spare bedroom the following morning, wearing only boxer shorts.
Draco sat on the couch, elbows on knees, staring at the floo.
Looking over at his friend through heavily lidded eyes he said, "she never came."
Blaise's eyes went wide. "Yes that's pretty fucking apparent, but why didn't you go to bed eventually?"
Draco turned back to the floo and shook his head, making no reply.
"Mate, it looks like you were stood up for a date at the very worst. At best, she never got the message, will you please take your head out of your arse and-"
"He knows," Draco muttered. "My Father knows it was you and not me on Saturday night. He knows I've been with Hermione after he forbid it. He's taken her."
Again, Blaise's eyes went wide.
"That's quite a whacking conclusion to come to, don't you think?"
Draco glared at him, his voice suddenly sharp. "Prove it wrong."
Blaise held his hands out at his sides and let out a low laugh. "And how would you have me do that, Draco? It's not as though I can go strolling into the Ministry to see if she's turned up for work with this damn trace on me. It just doesn't make sense Lucius has her. Much more likely she had some meeting and never returned to the office."
Draco was hardly listening. He had been doing mental acrobatics all night to create and then review the ways in which his Father might play his hand. Would he simply do away with her and never say a word about it? Would he use her as a hostage in order to get Draco to do some sort of unspeakable things on his behalf? No matter what conclusion he came to, they all involved Hermione being hurt in some way, or worse…
And it was all his fault.
He realized with a start that Blaise was seated beside him, trying to get his attention.
"-did you hear me, Draco? I'm sure Gabi would be happy to go and look for her."
Draco snapped his head up, his heart lightening and his stomach twisting with nerves all at once.
"What? Oh. Yes, you think she would?"
"Of course, mate. I filled her in on pretty much everything last night. I'll go see if she's awake, just... hang here," Blaise said, eyeing Draco warily as he walked to the bedroom.
Draco didn't care that he was acting like an absolute maniac. Fear had been storming inside of him ever since hearing that his Father had shown up at the Manor. He had already lost the ability to know whether his Mother was alright, and now it seemed the same was true for Hermione.
"She's going to get dressed and head to the Ministry immediately," Blaise said as he re-entered the room.
Draco took a deep breath and nodded, closing his eyes briefly. He was quite sure Hermione would not be there when Gabrielle called, but felt a small swell of hope that she would be, and that this all would have been a gross overreaction.
Ron sat at his office desk attempting to get some paperwork completed, but having difficulty concentrating when the image of Astoria splayed out across said desk would not stop assaulting his mind.
He sighed, a nervous swooping in his stomach occurring as he recalled that he would be spending his lunch break with her again today. It all seemed too good to be true… and yet it was.
It had been such an unexpected development when she had shown up there the previous Friday. He was still unsure what he had done to deserve such attention from her. Then again, it seemed as though they had certain things in common given their upbringing. A staunch prejudice on both sides that their mutual attraction stood clearly in the face of. They were at once a rebellion and a coming home to who they really were, beyond their parent's ideals.
Ron felt that Astoria made him a better version of himself. More honest.
Somehow he thought he did the same for her.
Their relationship had been exclusively physical thus far, but he suspected that it ran much deeper than either of them were willing to yet acknowledge.
He didn't just want her, he wanted her to be happy.
A small knock at his door broke his train of thought.
"It's open!"
The door swung slowly inward to reveal Gabrielle Delacour looking timid.
"'allo Ron," she said without moving from the doorway. He stood and began walking towards her.
"Gabrielle. What are you doing here? Come in!"
Though they were family, he had been sure that Gabrielle would never speak to him again after the scene he'd caused at her party. He couldn't imagine why she would be coming to see him now.
She nodded and came quickly into his office shutting the door behind her, and then began to pace in front of the desk.
"I am not sure 'ow to explain zees," she said, "but I don't know oo else to go to."
Ron watched her nervously as he scoured his mind for all of the possible reasons Gabrielle would be coming to him. Was she in trouble? Perhaps something to do with Zabini?
"Gabrielle, is it… are you hurt? I know you've been seeing Zabini… did he?"
She snapped her head up, looking angered.
"Of course not! Zat ees not why I am ere!"
Ron recoiled. "Alright fine, then please tell me what the real reason is so I can stop making guesses that offend."
"It's 'Ermione! We don't know where she ees!"
"We? Who is we? And what are you talking about? Since when?"
"She was not een er office yesterday when Astoria went to deliver Draco's package, an zen I went zere just now and she 'as not come een and ere assistant does not know where she ees!"
"Wait wait, back up, Astoria went to deliver what? Something from Malfoy?"
Gabrielle froze, her face going completely white and her hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Oh merde!"
Just then another knock sounded on Ron's door. He groaned and stalked over to tell whoever it was to bugger off. When he opened the door, however, Astoria stood there looking concerned. Glancing over at the clock, he realized it was already lunch time.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
"No, but I'm glad you're here, for more reasons than one," he said, taking her hand and leading her inside.
When Astoria caught sight of Gabrielle, she started.
"Oh. Hello. I don't believe we've been formally-"
"Astoria!" Gabrielle yelled, lunging forward and pulling the witch into an embrace. Astoria held her arms awkwardly out at her sides, but that didn't seem to deter Gabrielle.
"I am so glad you ah ere!"
"Clearly," Astoria said, glancing down at the French witch with a look of subtle amusement mixed with confusion.
"Astoria, Gabrielle reckons that you delivered a package to Hermione yesterday?"
Astoria turned her head swiftly to Gabrielle, glaring menacingly.
"Does she? I wonder where she got that idea from."
Ron grimaced. "So it's not true?"
Ron glanced between the two women, who seemed to be having a non-verbal conversation using only glares on Astoria's part and frightened stares on Gabrielle's. After a long moment of observing this, Ron lost his patience.
"Alright! Obviously, there is something going on that I know nothing about, and one of you better tell me what it is if it concerns Hermione and her safety. And what does this all have to do with Malfoy?"
Gabrielle continued to stare at Astoria, her frightened eyes begging the older witch to speak.
Astoria took a deep breath and laid a hand over her eyes. "I suppose you were going to find out eventually. Better sit down, darling."
The use of the term of endearment caught him off guard long enough to allow his pride and frustration to abate. Obediently, he took a seat.
The floo sounded and Draco's eyes shot open. He'd begun to doze on the couch after Gabrielle had left, finally succumbing to lack of sleep and temporarily contented that some semblance of a plan was in action. He looked up expecting to see the small French witch, but was startled by who stood before him instead.
"Weasley?"
The red-headed wizard scowled down at him, chest heaving, when suddenly Astoria tumbled out of the floo on his heels. Her usual demure nature was replaced by panic and haste.
"Ron wait! I told you I was going first!"
"Malfoy."
Draco noted that Astoria was looking back and forth between the men, panic evident in her gaze. With a small, graceful THUMP, Gabrielle followed them out of the fireplace, her cheeks red and her expression not unlike that of his future wife.
"Ron! Draco! Oh zees is all my fault!"
Returning his attention to Ron, he realized that the recently jilted wizard must have found out about his burgeoning relationship with Hermione. Draco stood, not interested in being spoken down to by the man before him.
"To what do I owe the honor of you barging into my home, Weasley?"
"You," Ron growled menacingly.
Draco was undeterred. Whatever the man thought, he was sorely mistaken, and Draco was not interested in a role reversal of being bullied by Ron.
"Care to finish a sentence? Whatever you have to say to me, just spit it out."
Ron walked toward him slowly as he spoke. "You stole her from me."
Draco raised a hand. "Let me stop you right there Weasley. She was far gone from you when we met again. I was merely there to pick up the pieces. Furthermore, never in my wildest dreams would she have been interested in me. That's something that surprised us all, I'm afraid."
Ron's eyes went wide. "Oh you've got that right."
Uninterested in arguing any of these points, Draco turned to Astoria and Gabrielle. "Since you're not sounding the alarms, I assume you found her safely at work?"
Gabrielle began to sputter, and Draco's heart dropped out of his chest. He looked to Astoria for confirmation. She held up both hands in an attempt to encourage calm.
"Now Draco, we don't actually know what happened to her, only that she didn't come into work today. She could very well be taking a sick day and just forgot to inform the Ministry."
Entirely ignoring Ron Weasley's presence now, Draco let out a frustrated yell, raking his fingers through and pulling on his hair as he resumed his previous path pacing the living room at top speed.
"She does not take sick days. The last day she stayed home was a few Thursdays ago after getting smashed at Potter's due to my surprise presence there. We spent the day sending owls to one another and she told me she had never missed one day. It's not something Hermione does."
He surveyed Astoria and Gabrielle's faces and was annoyed to see that they both seemed at a loss for what to say. Glancing over at Ron, he saw that the man looked curious. Draco ignored him.
Gabrielle began to cry quietly. "I deedint know what to do so I went to find Ron!"
The door to the spare bedroom opened and Blaise emerged in a bath robe, clearly having just come out of the shower. Seeing Gabrielle in distress, he charged across the room and wrapped his arms around her.
"What happened?" he barked to the room at large, and then more quietly to Gabrielle he said, "it's alright love, just breathe."
"Hermione wasn't in her office when Gabrielle went to check, and she went to Ron for help," said Astoria.
Blaise glared at Ron. "And you made my witch cry, is that it Weasley?"
Ron barely glanced at Blaise, still focused on Draco.
"She stayed home from work to spend the day exchanging owls with you?"
Draco rubbed his hands over his face. "I'm sure her hangover was the culprit; the letters were just happenstance after that."
"Bollocks. That's what hangover potion is for."
Draco shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you Weasley."
"Well you better know where she is then. Clearly you understand her habits," Ron said as if he was swallowing acid to admit this. "I agree, she would never skive off work for no reason, so where is it you think she is?"
Draco swallowed hard, his heartrate quickening. He did not want to share his fears with Ron Weasley. He did not want to see the warranted blame on the man's face for endangering the woman they both cared for. The woman they both…
No, Ron was with Astoria now, and he… well, he didn't know where he stood with Hermione in that regard…
"Malfoy you have about five seconds before I beat it out of you."
"As if that would help the situation, Weasley! Get a hold of yourself!"
"Me?! You're the one who-"
"Gentlemen, please!" Astoria interjected.
"Yea, everyone calm the bloody hell down and let's have a useful conversation about what to do next," Blaise said from his spot on the floor next to Gabrielle.
Draco resumed pacing, while Ron slumped onto one of the chairs. Blaise helped Gabrielle up and after he went and changed into his robes, everyone was seated in the living room in an awkward silence. Ron hadn't taken his eyes off Draco, who was deep in tortured thought.
Draco took a deep breath, not looking any of them in the eye.
"I have a suspicion that my… Father has somehow abducted her, due to the fact that he forbade me see her again, and we have been sneaking around and evading his notice… or so we thought."
Ron stood. "Lucius Malfoy is in Azkaban."
"It would seem," said Blaise, "that he has something of an agreement with the staff there."
"What does that mean?!" Ron asked, incredulously.
When Draco didn't answer, Ron turned back to Blaise. "Draco's been tongue tied, he knows but he can't say. I happened to run into Lucius when I was polyjuice'd as Draco at Malfoy Manor, and from our conversation I inferred that he is able to travel at least to the Manor, and who knows what other free reign he has."
Ron looked flabbergasted. "We need to report this!"
Draco, Blaise, Astoria and Gabrielle all yelled, "No!" in unison. Ron recoiled, looking around at all of them.
"He's threatened my Mother," Draco said, and he was embarrassed to hear the crack in his voice as he said it. Ron stared at him, his mouth hanging open and an expression of pain across his face. Draco knew how important Ron's Mother was to him. The two men shared an ever so brief moment of understanding.
"And now he's taken Hermione," Draco said solemnly.
Something in Ron seemed to snap back into place. "So this is your fault."
Draco winced and buried his head in his hands.
"Weasley," Blaise said forcefully, "Draco hasn't slept all night, he's worried sick and he's been beating the ever-loving shit out of himself over this. While I can appreciate your anger, I don't think directing it at him is going to help much in this moment, so will you please calm the fuck down and shut your trap?"
"Furthermore," Astoria said, "any one of us is just as guilty as Draco."
All three men looked over at her in surprise. She did not waver. "We were all complicit in this plan. If Lucius did indeed take her, it is on all of our heads."
Blaise nodded in agreement. "That's right mate, we were all fighting to make it work between you two so you could break the promise."
Ron turned his attention to Blaise now. "Break the promise? But I thought that wasn't possible…"
"Ron, darling… I didn't share this part with you… but for a reason," Astoria said sheepishly.
And awkward silence followed in which neither Blaise, Draco or Astoria wanted to offer Ron an explanation. Suddenly a small voice interrupted the silence.
"Ess eet true love?"
They all turned toward Gabrielle who had finally calmed down and was innocently staring back at each of them in turn.
A cacophony of ums ahs and ers went around the room. Draco looked over at Astoria and noted that she was doing anything but looking at Ron.
After another long silence, Blaise stood pulling Gabrielle with him and turned to Draco.
"How about that game of gobstones, mate?"
Draco, Blaise, and Gabrielle had exited to the terrace to give Ron and Astoria a moment alone.
"Deed I say somesink wrong again?" Gabrielle cried.
"No my love, you merely said aloud what others were only thinking. It was bound to come out and it might as well be now."
Draco glanced through the glass at the stilted conversation Astoria was having with her beau.
"I doubted Weasley had it in him to be truly in love in the first place, let alone now when he knows it would matter. Prat was never good under pressure."
Blaise shrugged. "Honestly, mate, I wasn't placing my bets on them in the first place. That relationship is purely physical. They're going to need more time."
"Yea, if they get that time at all," Draco said, letting out a low laugh. Then he thought again of Hermione and the panic he had been distracted from returned in full measure.
"Fuck. What are we going to do about Hermione? Standing around discussing this has eaten up a considerable amount of time we could have spent figuring this out."
"No worries, I've been concocting a plan this whole time."
Draco looked up at his friend and was relieved to see that he looked sincere.
"You have?"
Blaise shrugged again. "With Potter out of the picture for the moment, you need a good co-conspirator. My witch is right here, my head is level, I'm the man for the job."
Draco glanced from Blaise to Gabrielle and considered saying something heartfelt to his oldest friend, but found that the words were stuck in his throat. He wanted to thank him profusely for always being there for him. He wanted to tell him how much it meant that he would give up his time and essentially his life just to help Draco. He wanted to express his deepest possible gratitude.
Instead, he merely nodded while making stern eye contact, and he could tell that his friend intuited his meaning without the words.
Blaise smiled over at Gabrielle. "Darling, do you think you could manage another trip to the ministry? We need to put in an official missing person's report on Hermione."
Gabrielle perked up immediately. "But of course!"
They kissed, and Draco looked away, gazing instead out over London. The gorgeous day was mocking his inner state of turmoil.
Blaise gave Gabrielle a few detailed instructions on where to go and precisely what to say to the Ministry officials and sent her on her way. When he turned back, Draco was scowling at him.
His friend shrugged for a third time and said, "I've had to do it for a few of my… er… Fathers."
Draco grimaced. "Right."
"Now, the papers likely won't be notified immediately. There's a waiting period before someone is officially considered missing. Probably tomorrow morning."
"Alright…" Draco said, eager to hear the rest of his friend's plan. He failed to see what could be done.
"We need to rule out the theory that Lucius has her," Blaise said simply.
"But-"
Blaise held up a hand to stop him.
"Look Draco, I am with you. I completely see why you think it… and we still need confirmation. Who knows where she is, anything could have happened. Think about it."
Draco supposed he had a point. He realized that while capture by his Father would be horrible, it was also easier to stop at that conclusion than to imagine the countless other possibilities of where she could be.
Perhaps she decided that she didn't want to be with him and went abroad, for instance. It had crossed his mind, but he was refusing to entertain it. He thought he knew her feelings, but whenever they were apart he began to doubt…
"Alright fine, we need confirmation. How do you propose we attain that?"
Blaise smiled. "Come on, we'll need their help," he said, motioning for them to go back inside to finish their discussion.
When Draco and Blaise reentered the living room, it was to find Ron and Astoria in a passionate embrace. Apparently, Gabrielle had gone right by them and exited without disturbing their progress.
"Oi!" Blaise yelled.
"No one needs to see that," Draco said, shielding his view by holding his hand out at arm's length.
The two lovers broke apart and looked up at them with flushed cheeks.
"If you two are finished, we need to find Hermione," Draco said.
As if coming out of a trance, Ron shot up at attention. "Oh right, 'Mione. I... forgot."
"Stori is one hell of a snog, eh Weasley?"
Ron furrowed his brow angrily, looking from Blaise to Astoria in panicked confusion. Astoria held up her hands.
"Ignore him," she said sternly.
"But-" Ron made to argue, but Astoria grabbed his face with one hand, forcing him to look only into her eyes.
"Your lips are the only ones that matter to me. If you get jealous and force me to prove that to you over and over again, it will annoy me to the extent that I will hex you, and Zabini here would even caution you against chancing it."
Blaise raised a hand. "It's true, she's vicious. Goes right for the balls."
Ron's eyes widened.
"Am I understood?" Astoria asked.
Ron stared at Astoria, his look softening into one of deep admiration. Then he nodded, eyes staring down at her lips. She leaned in and kissed him hard, hand still gripping his face as she ended the kiss and pushed his mouth away.
Draco stood watching this, arms crossed and head titled in contemplation.
"This match is finally making complete sense to me."
"Oh shove off, Malfoy," Ron said with a bit less fervor than would be expected. "What's the plan?"
The prim and proper form of Narcissa Malfoy sat up straight in her hospital bed, unfolding the Daily Prophet and feeling a swoop in her stomach upon reading the headline.
Hermione Granger Missing!
It is with great regret that we inform the wizarding world, our very own Golden Girl, Hermione Granger, has been reported missing as of Tuesday June 24th, 2003. However, the last reported sighting of Ms. Granger was sometime on the afternoon of Monday the 23rd according to her secretary Artemis Flume. "It's really unlike her to just disappear! She never misses a workday and always checks in with me if she's leaving early or coming in late. We're all racked with worry!" said her secretary upon interrogation at the ministry yesterday afternoon.
Flume also revealed that Ms. Granger's last meeting prior to leaving the Ministry was with her former schoolmate, Pansy Parkinson. Ms. Parkinson, largely removed from wizarding society after the war, is of pureblood descent and sources say she was something of a bully to Ms. Granger in their school days. She is currently wanted for questioning in this case but has yet to make herself known.
Narcissa stopped reading and folded the paper. Mumbling to herself, she said, "that's my cue."
Checking the clock, she noted that the healers would not be in to insist she eat again for another two hours. Perfect.
Reaching down below her hospital robes, she pulled her wand out of its holster and unlocked the binds keeping her in the bed with a simple tap.
Glancing out in the hall once more to make sure the coast was clear, she pointed her wand at herself and said, "finite incantatem!"
A gruesome transformation began to take place. The one streak of black hair on her head seeming to grow and spread, taking over as the dominant color. Her wrinkles faded and skin became taut. Her long nose was replaced by a slightly more pug-like one.
Pansy Parkinson cast a disillusionment charm on herself since she was now wanted for questioning, before turning on the spot and disapparating out of St. Mungos. In a few hours' time, the healers would be sounding the alarms, and by then she would be long gone.
A/N: Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and theories!
Feel free to ask me anything on tumblr between updates: liliansilverstuff